The First Date
by obsidians
Summary: I ain't talking,you have to read it. Non-lemon
1. Chapter 1

I don't own Ranma, I just have him tied up in my closet

It is my first date and I'm nervous.

The girl seated across from me smiles at the joke I made and is oddly attentive to our conversation, as if noticing me for the first time. The suit I wear is a little tight around the shoulders, as it has been a while since I wore one and didn't have time to get a replacement. The candlelight reflects in her beautiful eyes and she tilts her head to study me. I return her smile and wonder why she purchased me in the first place.

I had agreed to participate in the bachelor auction as it was for a good cause and all of the Ranma's other enemies had already agreed. Ranma himself had been fought over and eventually won by Kodachi as the rest of the girls simply didn't have her money. Good luck on that one buddy.

My dining companion looks beautiful in a pink dress that compliments her pale beauty and soft, long hair. I watch her as she eats a cherry and wonder why I have never noticed how exotically beautiful she is. When she smiles she's cute beyond words, I wonder if she would mind if I kiss her goodnight at the end of our date?

The restaurant is the most expensive one in town and well worth the expense just to see her enjoying herself so much. I had done everything right, I introduced myself properly to her family, even though I had met them before and brought her roses. The champagne is actually sparkling cider, as we are both underage to drink. The bubbles make her giggle as they tickle her nose and she glances at me again. I feel relaxed and comfortable with her as I tell her about some of my humourous training bloopers. She is a good listener and cracks up at my jokes. Her butchered use of Japanese is kind of cute, along with her accent. At the moment it's hard to believe that this soft, curvy woman is a deadly warrior as she feeds me a bite of her dessert.

We linger over coffee as if reluctant for the date to end, but sadly it must and I retrieve her shawl and my overcoat from the coat check.

I walk her home while she clings to my arm and rests her head softly against my shoulder. I have never before walked like this and smell the sweet jasmine in her hair and match my larger stride with those of my petite companion.

All too soon we reach her apartment door and I pause and wonder if I dare ask for a kiss. She surprised me by taking my face between her small soft hands and pulling me into a sweet kiss, my first! It was a gentle kiss and we shyly and tentatively snaked our arms around each other. I let her when she teased my tongue with her own as I stroked her hair. We finally part and she says "thanks Kuno for too too fun date, I glad I bought you now"

"Thank you also Shampoo. Why did you buy me?" I asked her.

She cocked her head; "you, Mousse and Ryoga have become like friends to us fiancées. After Kodachi bought Ranma we felt bad that no one bid for any of you, so Ukyou buy Ryoga, Akane buy Mousse and I buy you. We all a team" she explained.

"Oh" I said a little disappointed that my first date was a pity date. "I guess I'll see you later"

"Yes" she said. "Oh Kuno, I not say no if you ask for other date" she said with a giggle and shut the door after her. I could only smile at this.


	2. Chapter 2

Sorry for the confusion, I had to repost this chapter as the url isn't working.

Sid

"I hope you don't mind eating here, Kasumi made it" Akane said to Mousse. She'd been somewhat surprised when he showed up wearing a black suit and even in her melancholy mood couldn't help admiring how good looking he was.

"Of course not" he said handing her the roses that he had brought his bachelor auction buyer.

They proceeded to eat and make small talk, Mousse couldn't help noticing that Akane seemed sad, but was trying to pretend she wasn't. "I'm sorry you didn't have enough to buy Ranma" Mousse said softly.

"That pervert? Who cares, we're having fun right?" Akane said, forcing a cheerful smile.

"It's okay, I understand about not being with the person you like" he said calmly.

"It's that obvious?" she said hanging her head.

"I know that you only bought me out of sympathy and I thank you for that. It was kind of embarrassing to stand up there and listen to the crickets chirp" he said without humour. "It shows that you're a kind person"

"Mousse, I'm sorry I haven't been much company" Akane said. "I haven't really made an effort to talk to you" she said turning her full attention on Chinese martial artist.

"You don't have to pretend to like me, I'll leave after dinner" he offered.

"No screw Ranma, he's just some dork. Tell me about yourself. What's your favourite colour? Do you have brothers and sisters? That sort of thing" Akane said. She was confused because she had wanted her real first date to be with Ranma. She'd even saved up her allowance for a month and gotten a loan from Nabiki to win the date with him.

"Purple's my favourite; I'm sure you can guess why. I have a mother and three younger sisters back home" Mousse said. "Ranma likes you best" he blurted out.

"What?" Akane asked blushing.

"Ranma, he likes you the best of all the girls. You're the one he worries about when you're in trouble. You're the one he wants to marry" Mousse said, wanting Akane to stop looking so sad.

Akane blushed "how would you know?" she asked him.

"His happiness gets in the way of my own. I've been studying Ranma for a year now and have come to the conclusion that Ukyou's like a sister to him, Kodachi scares him and Shampoo annoys him. I may be blind but I'm not stupid. You two may fight, but it is the fight of two teenagers confused about their feelings. When you're both adults marriage won't seem to weird and scary and you two can make your own decision about whom you wish to marry" Mousse explained.

"You think so?" Akane said, surprised that she was revealing her deepest fear of losing Ranma to someone she barely knew personally.

"I know so" Mousse said. "My long unrequited love has made me an expert in spotting it in others" he said.

"Why do you bother? Surely there are other Amazon girls who like you?" Akane asked as she was curious.

Mousse blushed "I have my fair share" he said modestly "but you don't get to choose who you love and Shampoo's the woman who owns my heart"

"But she treats you so badly" Akane said. "She mocks you, she beats you. How could you love that?"

"It's only the public side of her that you get to see. At home at night we laugh about old times and I hold her when she'd depressed about Ranma. I'm not sure if I love or hate him, I've gotten more affection from her in the past year than I have my whole life" Mousse said in amusement.

"That's enough for you" she asked.

"For now it has to be" he said with a shrug. "Shampoo will be mine after Saotome announces that you're the one he wants and marries you. Shampoo will be crushed and shall turn to me, then she will be mine" he declared.

"Sounds like a long wait" Akane observed.

"You ready for it?" Mousse asked her ironically.

"I guess I am. But what if she finds another person after Ranma is gone?" Akane asked.

"I'll outwait him too, I have infinite patience and never give up" he said. "She shall be mine" he declared.

"What if she finds someone else in the meantime and gives up on Ranma?" Akane asked.

"You think that Ranma's her first boyfriend? She gets these silly infatuations all the time and then she becomes too aggressive and chases them away. She's not used to men who have an opinion and don't do her biding without question. I was trained to be with a strong woman, so I know to do that" Mousse said.

"Doesn't it bother you?" Akane asked.

"Not really, it's not like I blindly follow her orders. If I think something is stupid, I tell her that and she gets mad. She's cute when she's annoyed" Mousse said smiling fondly.

"She seems kind of violent" Akane said with a shiver.

"She's sweet in her way, you have to get to know her" Mousse said. "Ranma seems to perpetually insult you as I view it. Is he always like that?" Mousse challenged.

Akane couldn't helping smile at the comparison "no, I guess that people are different when they're alone" she concluded.

"That's right" Mousse said and stood up. "I think I should go. I've enjoyed dinner but know I'm not the one you want here" Mousse said.

"Wait, I'm enjoying talking with you" she said and gave him her famous smile "stay for dinner and we'll go see that movie you promised me."

"But I thought you didn't really like me?" Mousse asked confused.

"Actually I think that you're very nice and would like us to be friends. As an added bonus we could help each other out by making Shampoo and Ranma think we're interested in each other" she said wickedly.

Mousse thought about the implications of this and thought how nice it would be to have a friend to talk with. He couldn't help returning her evil grin when he imagined Ranma's and Shampoo's jealousy when he and Akane went for tea together, the movies or even long walks. "I like the way you think Tendo-san, I accept" he said.

Akane happily held onto his arm and cuddled close when they walked into the movie together. She saw many Furinkan High school students and heard their murmurs of confusion to see Akane with another male besides Ranma. She shared a look of amusement with Mousse as she took his hand and thought that the 500 yen she spent on his was her best investment ever.


	3. Chapter 3

Ukyou studied her bachelor auction date; as if to confirm that it was really him. Ryoga had on an olive green suit that fit his muscular form to perfection, a tie that was just a few shades darker and a white shirt. The colour complimented his tanned skin and brought out the doe like appearance of his surprisingly gentle brown eyes. His normally uneven hair (which she suspected her cut himself) was neatly trimmed and gelled back to uncover his chiseled features. He wasn't even wearing his customary bandana. The polished young man sitting opposite her could easily have been the son of a successful banker and a private school attendee.

Ukyou herself had on a long sleeved soft knit dress that was a dark burgundy in colour, was mid thigh in length, clung to her curves, had a draped neckline that allowed a hint of cleavage to show and fastened at the waist by a patent leather belt. She never wore dresses, but couldn't resist trying it on when she found it for a bargain at a store that was closing. The colour and simple cut of the dress itself had flattered her pale skin and dark hair so much that she couldn't resist buying it. She'd dreamed about going on her first date in this dress and now she was...with the wrong man.

She'd expected for Ryoga to take her to chez McDonalds for La Big Mac and Fries and take her home immediately afterwards, but he'd surprised her by making reservations at a cozy, but nice Italian restaurant that she'd been dying to try. They had ordered a bunch of appetizers to start with, Prosciutto and Gruyere Pinwheels, Antipasto, Olive Crostinis, Pizza Dips and Sausage Tarts and had shared them. She had thought that the normally angst ridden Ryoga would bore her with sad stories about his unrequited love for Akane. Instead he'd kept her in stitches about his adventures in getting lost until their entrées came, veal cannelloni for her and chicken parmesan for him. "So I got lost looking for the john and ended up in the stripper's dressing room by mistake. There she was screaming and hitting me with a heart shaped pillow while my nose bled and I kept apologizing. Thankfully she forgave me and even helped me find the washroom when she understood it was a mistake" he concluded and Ukyou laughed at the image of the shy Ryoga being faced with a half-naked woman, the boy was so naturally modest.

"I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall to see that" she said as she accepted a bite of his food off his fork as if they were already a couple. She wordlessly offered him one in return. She found herself thinking that his unique fang teeth were kind of cute.

Suddenly he turned serious "Ukyou" he said hesitantly. "Why did you buy me?"

She put down her fork "it started when Mousse came up for auction and no one bid on him, Akane leapt right in and bought him. So when you came up I did that same and Shampoo for Kuno by unspoken agreement. I know that this is going to sound weird, but The Tendos', The Saotomes', The Kunos', you and even the Amazons have become like family to me. A weird family albeit but we're always there for each other when someone needs help. So us girls couldn't fail you when no other women know how special and unique the males of our family are" she explained with a shrug, wondering if he understood what she meant.

Ryoga knew what she meant, but had never thought about it that way, Ranma was kind of like the popular brother, Kuno the one into theatre arts and Mousse was, well Mousse. Ryoga missed his family and hadn't seen them in a year as they had the same directional disability as himself. Her words made lots of sense and Ryoga found himself wondering if that is why he always was drawn to this place and these people. He'd always thought that it was Akane, yet this collection of weirdos gave him something that had he could get nowhere else; a sense of belonging. "Is that why Akane didn't buy me?" he asked in a whisper. This is the only time this evening that he'd mentioned Akane out of respect for Ukyou. 'She looks beautiful this evening in that dress and with her hair down' he thought.

Ukyou nodded "she'd have bought you if you had been up first" she said encouragingly.

Ryoga felt his heart flutter and then admitted something that he'd realized lately. "It wouldn't have mattered; she still would have wanted to be with Ranma"

"Like how Ranma wants to be with her?" Ukyou said bowing her head in pain.

"You know?" Ryoga said softly and without thinking put his hand over her's.

"I have eyes. I see how he looks at her, how he worries about her when she's in trouble. He's never been like that with me" she said.

"How did you become engaged to Ranma?" Ryoga asked as he had been curious about Ukyou's attachment to Ranma.. She explained it to him, he frowned at this. "Is an okonomiyaki cart worth the price of your chastity?" he asked.

She flinched as if she'd been struck "It is to my family, I'm disinherited from them until I can make this right, therefore I have to complete my engagement and marry Ranma. Besides I love him" she added.

Ryoga thought about it and said "where did Genma abandon the cart?" he asked.

"What?" the idea had never occurred to her before.

Ryoga shrugged, "Ranma was five and Genma I doubt was a chef, especially not of a specialized food like yours. Therefore they probably made use of the cart until the ingredients were gone and then either sold it or abandoned it, especially if they had no horse or oxen to hitch to. Genma strikes me as being an extremely lazy man" Ryoga said.

"You mean I should find out where it is and get my cart back?" she asked.

"Yes it wouldn't solve your problems with Ranma, but your father and yourself can rejoin your family as his humiliation would be at and end" Ryoga said.

"My father's dead" she said in a small voice "that's part of the reason why I think of yourselves as being my family"

"I miss mine too" Ryoga said. "They're still alive, I just can't find them. We all have the same directional challenge" he explained.

"That must be hard" Ukyou said.

"Makes family reunions hell" he agreed.

"Where do you live?" she asked. He named the town. "What a coincidence, my father and I were travelling in that direction when he gave Genma our cart" she said, wondering if it was fate that she had bought Ryoga.

"Ukyou, I have a proposition for you. We both have to find things we're missing, would you help me look for them?" he as.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Travel together; you aren't going to school because it's the summer. I have a knack for finding things, not places obviously, but if we find your cart I can restore it in no time. I've worked construction jobs for years; that's where I developed my strength training" Ryoga offered. "You could bring your portable grill and go on the road and help me find my home"

"Travel together?" she asked.

"Separate tents of course" he said.

Ukyou seemed oddly thrilled at the idea of just getting away from the sadness of her realization that Ranma didn't love her. It could be her new purpose in life, trying to find her lost cart. Ryoga was a nice guy who could protect her in case of trouble if she really needed it. Not that she really needed someone to look after her like Akane; Ukyou was dangerous in her own right. 'Plus he's awfully good looking' she thought with a blush.

"I-I'm not sure, can I have a night to think about it?" she asked.

"Of course" he said and got the check.

"Thank you, it was a lovely dinner. How can you afford all this?" she asked.

"My grandmother passed away and set up a trust fund for me that I can't access until I am twenty one. I get a monthly allowance from it like a little kid. That's how I can afford to travel" he admitted.

"Trust fund?" she asked in surprise.

"My grandmother had money, my parents don't" he explained.

"What will you do when you go home?" she asked.

"I'll stay there for as long as I can. I get wanderlust" he admitted. "Now come on, let me walk you home" he said and strode in the wrong direction.

"This way Ryoga" she said and took his hand to lead him to her place, he laughed and let her hold it.

When they got back to her place, he went to retrieve his pack "you could spend the night" she shyly suggested.

"I-I can't, I'm waiting for my wedding night" he said with a blush.

Her face went beet red "I am too, I have a spare bedroom" she stammered.

"I'd love to" he said and stepped over the threshold into her apartment.

The next morning she wore a pack similar to his after Genma had admitted on the phone that they had abandoned her father's cart in a forest clearing, which oddly enough was on the way to Ryoga's house. They had both lost something and now they would find them together, not bad for a first date.


End file.
